OUR EXPERT
Nick Peers wishes he could plug Recoll into his own brain. His ageing synapses aren’t what they once were. Sorry, what was the question again?
CS ometimes, it can seem like finding a file is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Your desktop’s own search tools are fine when you know the name (or part of the name) of the file you’re looking for, but what if you can’t remember the file’s name (never mind where it might reside), but do remember some of its content?
The solution lies with Recoll (www. lesbonscomptes.com/recoll). This clever tool enables you to search the contents of files as well as their names, making it easy to track down documents containing specific keywords. It works by using several third-party tools to comb through specific filetypes, creating an index of their text-based content. When you need to find something, Recoll lets you search this index rather than the files themselves, which takes seconds rather than minutes.
The index is updated in real time or at scheduled intervals, so any changes (as well as new files) are recorded in the index to ensure your searches remain accurate and based on up-to-date information.
Installation
A complete install of Recoll comprises several packages. Recoll itself can be installed as a commandline app or – as we’re doing here – as a desktop app.
